Bei Dong Nan Xi 北东南西

With all these Chinese lessons, we now know all the directions!

Bei 北 means north.
Dong 东 means east.
Nan 南 means south.
Xi 西 means west.

These directions come in handy when learning Chinese cities and provinces. So many of the locations of the provinces can be identified if I can remember these directions. For example, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, and Guangxi. While I don't yet always remember these locations, I can at least get a head start on finding the provinces by remembering my directions.

Also, if you ever play mahjong (and I mean the real version here in China) you'll need to know your directions in order to make a sequence of tiles (run of 3). While in the states we often say, "north, south, east west" here in China the order (at least in mah jong) is "bei, dong, nan, xi (north, east, south, west)."

China's Empty City

If we had been back in Harbin, we may have seen this on our own TV. The report is from Al-Jazera, on of the only English language news station we receive. Since we're not at home, this article was passed to me and I pass along to you.

Ordos, China is a beautiful modern city. It was built from the ground up in just five years. The streets are clean. And the neighborhoods are quiet. But something is missing. The city was built to accommodate nearly one million people. Yet, no one lives there.

The city of Ordos was a government project. It was likely conceived as an economic stimulus. Building is a sign of economic growth. So, local officials started building. But five years later no one has moved in. It’s a ghost town without any ghosts.¹

Follow the link below to watch the video of the AlJazeera report.

China's Empty City (4:22 min)
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¹ The Kim Kamando Show November 20, 2009

Thanksgiving in China

Our Thanksgiving is spread over 3 days. We get to leave out the Black Friday shopping craziness. Everyday we can find a bargain in China, so no need to rush out at 2:30 AM to stand in line when I can sleep in and hit the market at a reasonable time.

Day 1: Thursday, we join some friends for a traditional family Thanksgiving dinner surrounded by friends new and old. All the fixings are there, including 2 turkeys and 6 pies.

We determined the Thanksgiving meal in China can sometimes be the best Thanksgiving meal ever. Not because everything tastes so much better because of the lack of American food for the past several months, but for another reason. Here, everyone brings their best dish to the meal. It's a combination of Thanksgiving and a Fellowship Potluck Dinner! Now that makes for great food!

Day 2: Friday, we watched the football games a live online. The Broncos finally snapped their losing streak. (On a side note, maybe the baby can be born soon. Kanyon was born on a Tuesday morning after the Broncos had won the Monday night football game.) And just for M'Lynn the Cowboys won too!

Day 3: Saturday, we plan to attend a huge (70 people) Thanksgiving meal here at the Mac. We suggested that we bring something simple to the meal just in case we were delivering a baby and had to miss the meal. So we've found some Stove Top stuffing and cranberry sauce that we can quickly fix up and contribute to the meal.

Turkey in China for Thanksgiving, a little of home in Beijing.

Finally, we found it!

After stopping by Jenny Lou's every week after our doctor's appointment, we finally found what we've been looking for! Pumpkin Pie mix in a can!

We are so excited to have some pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving that we went ahead and purchased the other ingredients needed for the pie (Crisco and evaporated milk). Now we are really going to have a great feast on Thanksgiving.

And we wonder where all our money went this weekend. Hmmm, I wonder, maybe pumpkin pie (and Subway, and Annie's Italian, and cabs, and doctor's appointment, and diapers, and ...)

Thursday Morning Image

The doctor says, "See you next week. We can renegotiate then." So the baby is not ready to come out yet. We'll see what a week does and see what's going on by the time the due date rolls around December 2. Until then, we have just a week remaining with only one child. It will be an adjustment for us and for Kanyon as well. He's already practicing with the little Tigger doll. Please remember this transition time for both him and us. (And hopefully next week's image will be of the newest member of our family!)

Unofficial Member

As I've been posting this month and reading others' blogs, I found that November is National Blog Posting Month. For some prizes, and just for fun, bloggers are encouraged to join and post 30 times in 30 days. (Note, it's actually includes every month, but originally began in the November with November still being the only month with prizes!)

Now that we're almost through November, I noticed that I have posted everyday. (Or at least I have enough posts for one for every day. I missed the 4th and posted twice on the 8th, but it's unofficial, so who's counting!)

So to finish out the month of November, I will become an unofficial member of National Blog Posting Month and post once for each day in November. Since it's unofficial, there will be no prizes, but then again aren't we expecting a baby!

Still the Ultimate Turkey Tale

This is still by far the best turkey tale of all time. I hope this year we are able to enjoy the more traditional turkey as purchased from a store here in Beijing. But you can't beat the freshness of this turkey!

Repost: Turkey Tale (Firsthand)



If you haven't heard how we got a turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, you're in for a real China adventure. A friend of ours in Harbin tells the firsthand account of finding, bargaining, and preparing the wonderful Thanksgiving turkey.

Read the account here.

I originally posted the story here, at least my second (or possibly third) hand account of the events. But stories are always better when they come directly from the source.

Huo Ji 火鸡

I love the pictures that some Chinese words make when the characters are translated literally. A special word that we all love this time of year, turkey.

Huo 火 means fire
Ji 鸡 means bird

So literally turkey means "fire bird." That's such a great picture of what a turkey looks like, charcoal gray like it just came out of the fire.

This same idea is just to create the word of train (huo che 火车 means "fire car"). Sometimes the simplest words are the most fun.

Happy thanksgiving to all as you chow down on some fire bird.

English in China Today

It's great to know that China is still crazy about learning English to close the gap with other international cities. Hopefully that means job security for a while teaching English to students here in Harbin (or more generally in China). Check out the article below:

Beijing campaigns for English learning¹ (November 13, 2009, china.cn.org)
The Beijing Foreign Affairs Office plans to persuade more citizens to learn English in order to enhance the city's soft power, the Beijing Youth Daily reported recently. According to Director of the Beijing Foreign Affairs Office Zhao Huimin, the gap of the international environment between Beijing and other big cities in the world is still wide. Beijing needs to be more active in having more people speak foreign languages fluently. In addition, the capital also needs to improve its foreign language services. "Although the Olympic Games are now over, Beijing's modernizing and internationalizing process is in no way ending," Zhao said. According to Zhao, there are two tasks that the office is dealing with. One is to encourage more people to learn foreign languages. The other is to correct bizarre English signs in public.

A second article says that China is quickly catching India as the leading nation sending college students to study in America. "While India was, for the eighth consecutive year, the leading country of origin for international students - sending 103,260 students, a 9 percent increase over the previous year - China is rapidly catching up, sending 98,510 last year, a 21 percent increase."²

At the zoo this week to celebrate Kanyon's birthday I found a "bizarre English sign in public" in the men's restroom. Above the urinals the sign read, "Closer, easier."

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¹ "Beijing campaigns for English learning" ZGBriefs for November 19, 2009
² "China Is Sending More Students to U.S." ZGBriefs for November 19, 2009

Temperature Check

Normal: Daily temperature checks entering the apartment complex.

While in Harbin, we self reported our daily temperatures. This became quite normal and routine as we would fill out the form and submit it each morning before heading out to teach. Now in Beijing, we have the additional fun of being checked by one of these fun infrared thermometers as we enter the apartment complex where we're staying.

The guards put this up to my forehead and pull the trigger. I'm glad their thermometer registers a bit low every time. Our temperatures hover around 34 Celsius each time we enter. At that temp, I think we would be dead. But its better for the thermometer to be too low then to be too high forcing us into a fever quarantine everyday.

I get a bit nervous each time to thermo-gun is placed near my forehead. I think I'm remembering too much from "No Country for Old Men" for this to be comfortable. But it's now normal nonetheless.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

In a post that has nothing to do with China, it's time for some sixman football! The playoffs are here and in Texas that means the best time of the year.

Watching sixman football every Friday night under the lights wearing long johns and drinking hot chocolate. (I will be doing all of those from China except for the football watching.)

Sixman football is the best. Nothing like everyone from a small town in the stands cheering for their team. 400-500 people per side cheering for the six players on the field. Awesome! Traditionally I attended the sixman state championship game every year watching both the "large school" Division 1 game and the "small school" Division 2 game.

(It's crazy! We've created a division of football in Texas that requires only 6 players so more schools can field a football team and we've reduced it even further to have 2 champions one large school (66-101 students in high school) and one small "absolutely tiny" school (less then 65 students in high school))

Now from China, I must settle for the scores (or some heavily accented small town sports radio).

A daily check on this website keeps me in touch with this most wonderful time of the year! Check it out for yourself www.sixmanfootball.com

Thursday Morning Image

As we stay in this building (the Mac) in Beijing, we are surrounded by the office staff of our organization. The President of our company stopped by our room the other night along with the Chairman of the Board. We're surrounded by different people charged with running the whole operation in China. From meeting the executives heading different programs our company offers to meeting the regular teachers from different parts of the country I am reminded of the many people working together to make this possible.

Please remember all the other teachers through China, Mongolia, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam and all the executives seeking wisdom and guidance as they move this organization along the Father's path.

What a Mess Tones Make!

We've had fun staking out the places around the neighborhood to buy stuff for meals and tried some take-out. We normally go out to a nearby restaurant to order some food and meet our weekly quota for Chinese food and rice. One place is called "The Shack" because that's almost what it looks like but they have a ton of different dishes for us to choose. However some are quite different from the normal foods in Harbin.

Last week, we went into The Shack to order some food. The guy taking the order laughed at my order of "dou ya fen" (bean sprouts with stir-fried rice noodles). He said "That's dongbei (northeast) food!" I said "Yeah..I live in Harbin!" So I guess that one wasn't on the menu, but they went out and bought bean sprouts and cooked it up for me anyway!

Now this week we returned to The Shack. This time we were wanting some suantai rousi (garlic shoots with pork) but instead received suancai rousi (pickled cabbage with pork). Being careless with the pronunciation and tones got us into trouble. Pickled cabbage is suancai [swan-tsigh] pronounced with the falling fourth tone while garlic shoots are suantai [swan-tie] pronounced with the rising second tone.

What a mess! Pickled veggies are too much for me so we ended up with 4 dishes of food on the table for 2 people to eat. Way too much food. Good thing Kanyon didn't mind the pickled cabbage flavored pork. He gobbled it down!

Beijing 北京

We'll continue on our journey to learn bits a pieces of Chinese. I learn best by making connections between words. So I learn one word and then look for other words that use the same characters as words I already know. Beijing is such a word.

Bei 北 means north.
Jing 京 means capital.

Beijing is the capital now, but it hasn't always been the capital. Each emperor it seems moved the capital around China, either for strategic or personal reasons. The former capitals include Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Kaifeng, Luoyang, Xi'an, and other capitals of the various kingdoms before unification.

The awesome thing with Chinese is how easy some things can be translated. For example, the former capital of China Nanjing 南京 translated south capital.

Knock, Knock, Knock

This evening we were hanging out in the awesome apt 22 a the Mac where we've been living for a week and will be living for several more. Kanyon and I (M'Lynn) were in the middle of dancing to the SEEDS album (great Christian kids music).

Knock on the door...and it's Mr. President (of our company) and Mr. Chairman of the Board (both quickly visiting China before traveling elsewhere around Asia) wanting to know if they could come in and show the apartment to another man that's traveling with them! LOL. There were toys everywhere. A bowl of popcorn and other misc. snacks on the table. Laundry thrown over the chair...etc! Not exactly "open house" condition. But they were gracious and just stepped inside the living room.

It was super cool to see them and chat for a few minutes, but I keep laughing when I think about the mess they got to see! At least they know people make themselves at home here at the MAC!

Kids Are Kids

Eating out with Kanyon is usually quite fun and he most often enjoys the meal and always enjoys going outside. Before we head out, we always repeat these with him:

Parents: "What do you do in a restaurant?"

Kanyon: "Sit, seat, eat."

Parents: "Good."

This same dialogue can be changed to include anywhere we are going. "What do you do on an airplane?" or "What do you do in a taxi?"

This time was different. He wanted to play and play with the local restaurant owners kid while we ate. Which is not bad because we get to eat in peace, but then he gets hungry later. The only way to get him to sit down was when the kid turned on the TV and they both watched TV together as they ate. Kids will be kids.

Where Am I?

As we arrived in Beijing on Saturday afternoon, we were amazed again at how easy it is to find our way around a Chinese airport to baggage claim and then to the taxi line. It's really easy in the airports (it's just being in the taxis and out on the street where there are no English signs or speakers).

While working our way down the 2 flights of escalators to get to the taxi line, we noticed this sign.


Now that's quite informative. An empty sign that tells me where I am. Wow, well at least we know we're here!

Walt Disney Comes to China

Just what we've all been waiting for, Disneyland is finally coming to mainland China. Now all the "Disney" shop patrons will have a place to go with their themed purses, shoes, hats, key chains, jackets, and socks. This "Disney" stores seem to be everywhere in Harbin. There's probably one in every mall and even one just down the street from our campus. Read the news story below:

China OKs Disney theme park in Shanghai¹ (November 4, 2009, AFP)
China has given the green light for Walt Disney Co. to build its long-awaited first theme park on the mainland in Shanghai, after a decade of negotiations, both sides said. The announcement of the deal, which would be one of the biggest ever foreign investments in China, comes less than two weeks before US President Barack Obama makes his first official visit here, starting November 15 in Shanghai. Neither side disclosed any figures, or gave a time frame for reaching a final agreement, but previous reports have said the US entertainment giant will invest 3.6 billion dollars in the 10-square-kilometre (four-square mile) park.
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¹ From the ZG Briefs November 5, 2009.

You don't want that toilet paper!

The Chinese ladies in the on-campus store near our apartments sure do know what the foreigner wants. And when it comes to paper goods, they really know which ones are the best.

It’s normal in China to not leave home without some tissue paper, both for your nose and for use in the restroom. It’s not likely you’ll find any sort of toilet paper in restrooms in China, so you better bring your own. And bring the soap or hand sanitizer while you’re at it. All of these are not common in typical Chinese restrooms.

Last week, I went into the store to buy some Kleenex. (Note: I’m using Kleenex to refer to tissue. While Kleenex brand is in China, our student store doesn’t carry them, but there are plenty of other alternatives.) I was looking at the selection trying to decipher the Chinese to get the best tissue available, preferably something with 3 piles instead of the extra thin 1-2 pile version that I can blow right through. I finally decided which one I would purchase when the lady came up to me and took me around the corner to look at the selection again. She picked up a better package of Kleenex and handed it to me. I thanked her and walked off to buy her suggestion.

Now, today I walk back into the student store looking for some toilet paper. Again confused trying to guess the Chinese on the packaging I select the brand we always buy and began to walk away. Once again the Chinese lady in charge of watching the tissues came to me, took me back to the selection, and handed me the best available toilet paper. I thanked her and walked away to purchase the paper not knowing what made her paper better than the one I chose. I will probably never know. Maybe my selection was not perforated, had only 2 piles, or was extremely rough.

Volume 3, Issue 11

Hello from Beijing!

The semester of teaching has come to a close and the waiting has begun. We are excited about the arrival of Baby #2! It’s much like Christmas Eve every day. When will he come? Is it today? Maybe tomorrow?

We are thankful for all your prayer support this semester. We feel strengthened and encourage daily knowing you guys are standing with us in this great adventure.

The Big Wait

Let the wait begin! We arrived in Beijing this past weekend and are now in a holding pattern until Baby #2 arrives. Just being here in the city calms our nerves as we don’t have to worry about having the baby in Harbin. And M’Lynn isn’t so anxious to get on the airplane.

While waiting for the arrival, we are spending a good amount of time setting up the apartment here at the Mac. The Mac is our company’s great office building and guest house in Beijing. We’ve rented an apartment for a month and are making it feel like home. Not that it requires much because the accommodations are great. We often compare staying at the Mac to staying at our mom’s house. It just feels that comfortable and cozy.

We have an awesome doctor from Australia that we are seeing every week until the delivery. Please remember these visits and the timing of Baby #2. The doctor is traveling to Australia from November 13-23 for his son’s wedding. We would love for the baby to wait until after he returns.

Our company’s staff here in Beijing is planning a huge event for Thanksgiving with a huge turkey and all the fixins. We hope to be able to join the celebration, but may be unable to depending on the new arrival. It’s funny how we are predicting Baby #2 will arrive on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving just as Kanyon did 2 years ago.

Please remember each of these huge prayer requests. Prenatal care as we travel to and from the hospital. Arranging a driver to take us to the hospital when the time comes. The safe labor and delivery of the new baby. Adjusting to life with 2 children. Favor in the government offices as we file paperwork for passport, visa, and residence permit. And finally safe travel back home to Harbin.

Tuesday Morning Image

As the world is a little over the swine flu pandemic China is still a little crazy about all the precautions. Some people even wear these masks outside as they are walking to and from class. If you travel by plane, you'll see even more of these masks because of the abundance of people. Please remember the authorities as they make policies and enforce the rules to provide the safety needed without unnecessary over-reactions.

Dongbei 东北

Quiz: What one of our favorite phrases in Chinese? We even use it all the time in English conversations too. Remember? ... Dongxi 东西 meaning "stuff" but literally translates "east west."

Using that knowledge we can learn dongbei 东北.

Dong 东 means east.
Bei 北 means north.

Together, dongbei means northeast. This term is used to describe the area of China where we leave. The dongbei includes three provinces of Heilongjing (that's where we live in Harbin), Jilin (to the south of Heilongjiang), and Liaoning (the southern most of the three provinces).

The dongbei was formerly known as Manchuria and is now very old and rusty. It was the industrial capital of China for many years, but that was years ago. Now the dongbei is trying to find it's role again and the Chinese government is pumping money into its economy.

One of the toughest problems facing the dongbei today is its growing elderly population. This problem is common throughout China, but is especially tough in the doungbei as many of the youth leave in search of jobs and don't return.

Ode to the Swine Flu

Before we took off on our flight to Beijing, we watched the funnest little propaganda video on the airplane TVs. What a shame!

How to protect yourself from being attacked by the influenza A(H1N1)?
Swine flu comes from America
Spreads around the world
It’s true name is A(H1N1)
What a shame!
Someone say it due to pigs
Actually not all is my mistake
The virus comes from pig, bird and man
Mixed
The variety virus is a little strong
It can be alive several hours
Breathing, contact and kissing
It’s infective!
Fever, cough and flowing nasal mucus
Don’t ignore the common symptoms
The virus all have a incubation period
Take care!
Because at present we lack the vaccine
We should prevent it ahead of time
Listen to me everybody, I’ll give you a
Instruction!
Wash your hands and take exercise frequently
Make a good habit of personal hygiene
Drink more water and have enough sleep
Very good!
If there were patients in the place where you live
Don’t have no purpose stroll outside
Don’t drill the crowd to join in the fun
Dangerous!
Pay attention to the diet at home
The diet must be nutritive and comprehensive
The meal must certainly be boiled
Safely!
Open the windows
Keep the air have a circulation
Decrease the possibility of catching the cold
Comfortable!
Have a good mood is also important
No stress, no bother
Balance the body and mind
No illness
If you have a cough of sneezing
Estop your mouse and nose with paper
Throw the paper in the garbage can
Social morality
If we have a good prevention
The flu can’t seize you
Don’t be infected by the virus
Well done!
Although the epidemic situation is nervous
We should have a good mood
Learn more knowledge and make enough prevention
Healthy!

Check out the complete video with all the glorious animation:

Swine Flu Video (2:30 min)

Head South for Snow

We're soon heading to Beijing. I find it somewhat ironic that we're heading south in hopes of warmer temperatures but Beijing has already experienced their first snow of the season. (And this is before any such snow in Harbin "The Ice City") Here's the excerpt from BBC News:

Scientists 'cause' Beijing snow¹ (November 2, 2009, BBC News)
Chinese meteorologists say they brought about Beijing's earliest snowfall in a decade, after seeding rain clouds with silver iodide to ease a drought. The Weather Modification Office sprayed clouds with 186 doses of the chemical to bring rain for the wheat crop, the Beijing Evening News said. But the arrival of a cold front caused heavy snow to fall, disrupting road, rail and air travel.

The only question remaining is why not cause the snow (rainfall) sooner. If these scientists can cause it to snow, then they are holding out. Are these same scientists causing the drought by not making rain? I need some answers.
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¹ From ZG Briefs for November 5, 2009

Black Ink on White Paper

Photo: Notice all the banners, flags, and signs. They are all red with either white or yellow letters.

I would have never thought of this and could have gotten myself into a lot of trouble, but I am now culturally informed.

Our teammates told us a story of a Norwegian on their former campus. The Norwegian was part of a school club in Norway that took pictures wherever their members went holding a banner, much like Texas Tech alum taking pictures holding a huge double T flag. The Norwegian gathered a group of students together, unfurled the banner (white with black ink), and snapped the picture.

Later that night the students turned themselves in to campus authorities thinking they had unknowingly taken part in a protest. The authorities were quick to react and interview the Norwegian, almost sending him out of China.

I’ve now come to learn that white banners with black ink are only used for funerals and protests. That explains why all the banners around our campus are red with white letters. I just thought China loved red.

2 Years 2 Weeks Early

Photo: The amazingly talented and dedicated M'Lynn does it again. This year with a "choo, choo" cake!

We celebrated Kanyon's birthday a good two weeks early this year so that we could celebrate here at home with our teammates. As M'Lynn says, "There's no way to have a cake like that unless you're at home."

I would agree. Baking, eating, and celebrating at home are much easier then trying to gather all the goods in a kitchen that's not your own.

After a rough couple of days Kanyon settled into the birthday party and quickly learned what it was all about: blowing candles (which he did twice because it was so much fun), eating cake (but only half a piece because of more exciting things to come), opening presents, and then playing with all the new toys (after taking them to Daddy to get them opened.

Then came time for the "big present" from us, a wiggle racer. He remembered immediately that he'd seen one of these before in the states this summer. He jumped on top and wiggled his way to the door to race up and down the hall. Be careful of little toes!

Other photos from the big day, click here.

Can I take a picture with your child?

Photo: Botanical Gardens with the two cameras pointed our way.

Normal: Paparazzi surrounding us every time we head out to a park or other public place.

For the National Day holiday during the first week of October, we went to the Botanical Gardens for a picnic with our international friends. The gardens were full of visitors enjoying one of the last days of cool fall weather before winter comes.

The gardens are a destination for brides and grooms with their entourage carting around dresses, cameras, and props for bridal photos. M’Lynn always gets a kick out of seeing all the dresses, dolled up ladies, and guys carrying purses for their lady. If she has the camera, there’s no doubt we’ll come home with tons of pictures of brides.

National Day was extra special day for brides. There were more than we could count. After a few meters into the park, we received our first request, “Can I take a picture with your child?” We offer our response that we can’t speak for Kanyon, but you’re more than welcome to try. Sometimes he is in the mood for pictures and other times he just wants to continue exploring.

The cameras are not just phone cameras or small point and shoot cameras, these cameras are huge!

We constantly remind ourselves that we are light everywhere we go and prepare ourselves each time we leave our house knowing we are different. It is normal to be surrounded by cameras, but there are still days when we forget we’re in China and are quickly reminded as soon as we step outside.

Tuesday Morning Image

This will be one of the last pictures of our family with only three members. We depart this weekend for Beijing where we'll be until our family is expanded by one member. Please remember this time as we prepare our bags, wait for the arrival, and ready ourselves for this awesome addition. We are excited and can't wait to meet Baby #2 and introduce him to you.

Zhongguo 中国

If you’ve paid attention to last week’s post, you’ll probably figure this one out. Zhongguo means “China” in Chinese.

Zhong 中 means middle
Guo 国 means country,kingdom, or land

Zhong was one of the first characters we could read because it’s so simple. And since we already knew guo, these were an easy pick-up. Add the ren 人 character to the end of the phrase it means Chinese person/people (Zhongguoren 中国人). Since there are no plurals in Chinese, the context will tell you if you are referring to a single Chinese or a multitude.

Another funny coincidence? Our last hometown in Texas is the direct translation of Zhongguo into English. Did you figure it out yet? We were meant to be here!

Halloween 2009

Check out the photos from the 20th floor Halloween party. There are no pictures from the 1st annual chili cook-off because we were too busy eating bowl after bowl of chili and cornbread. But you can check out the kids all dressed up.